Matt Harvey Stands His Ground Against Yankees

Bill Kostroun / Associated Press

New York Mets pitcher Matt Harvey celebrates with Daniel Murphy (28) after the Mets defeated the New York Yankees, 8-2, in an interleague baseball game Saturday, April 25, 2015, at Yankee Stadium in New York.

New York Mets pitcher Matt Harvey celebrates with Daniel Murphy (28) after the Mets defeated the New York Yankees, 8-2, in an interleague baseball game Saturday, April 25, 2015, at Yankee Stadium in New York. (Bill Kostroun / Associated Press)

NEW YORK — Terry Collins knew it was coming. He couldn't let himself care. He most certainly didn't allow himself to seriously consider what Matt Harvey had to say after Collins had made the long walk out to the pitcher's mound at Yankee Stadium.

"C'mon!" Harvey told his manager with two outs in the ninth inning of the Mets' 8-2 rout of the Yankees in the Saturday dusk. "Let me get this guy!"

"I had Chuck Finley [when he managed the Angels]," Collins said. "God bless him, Chuck said to me one time, 'Don't ever ask me how I feel. I'm going to tell you I'm fine. If you want to take me out, take me out. But don't ever ask me.' This guy is exactly like that."

Harvey grew up in Mystic as a Yankees fan. His dad took him to games at the old stadium in the Bronx. It is a warm family story, a warm, fuzzy Connecticut story that the big righthander had zero interest in retelling Saturday after he had pitched 82/3 innings of monstrous baseball.

"I'm a New York Met," Harvey said.

And so he is.

There could be a day in the future when the Yankees chase Harvey hard as a free agent, wine and dine him to coerce him across the Triboro Bridge to put on the pinstripes. Not this day. This day was about the rising power of the young Dark Knight pitching his first game at Yankee Stadium against an aging former ace named CC Sabathia.

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NEW YORK (AP) — Matt Harvey finished one out shy of a complete game, earning his first win against the team he rooted for growing up and leading the New York Mets to an 8-2 victory Saturday over the crosstown rival Yankees.

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(HOWIE RUMBERG)

With the Yankees entering the day tied with the Red Sox for first place in the American League East and the Mets the giddy talk of baseball, this early-season Subway Series packed plenty of juice in Gotham.

The Islanders potentially were looking at their last game ever at Nassau Coliseum. The Nets were beating the Hawks in a playoff game in Brooklyn. Wladimir Klitschko had a heavyweight title fight at Madison Square Garden. It was a big, busy day on the New York sports calendar, but this one in the Bronx was the real heavyweight fight.

"He's ready," Collins said before the game of Harvey. "This is what this guy lives for ... on this stage, in this city. I don't have much to say to Matt Harvey on days he pitches. He doesn't have much to say, except he growls."

Yep, he growls.

And down went CC ... again. Sabathia is 0-4 with a 5.96 ERA. And after a decent outing against Detroit, Joe Girardi was left answering more tough questions after Sabathia was rocked by the Mets for three homers, nine hits and seven runs in five innings.

"I'm not going to make too much of one start," Girardi said. "Today he struggled."

Coming off Tommy John surgery, which kept him out all of 2014, meanwhile, Harvey growled through his longest appearance since he pitched a complete game on Aug. 7, 2013, against Colorado. He is 4-0 with an ERA of 3.04, only the second pitcher in Mets history to twice start a season with four straight wins. He has struck out 31 this season and walked only three. And here's the thing: Nobody believes we've seen the best of Harvey yet.

Stephen Drew hit a first-pitch 96 mph fastball for a double off the 385-foot sign in right-center field to lead off the third inning and scored on a double play. Mark Teixeira smoked a 3-and-1 fastball into the right field stands for his eighth home run of the season to lead off the seventh. That was it.

The Yankees' three other hits were a little grounder to the left side by Teixeira that beat the shift, a bunt by Didi Gregorius and Teixeira's single to right in the ninth. A walk to Brian McCann followed, and that's when Collins came out to retrieve Harvey.

"After losing the [11-game winning] streak last night, the big thing for me was to start a new one," Harvey said. "I struggled a little early on with my off-speed stuff, but I got a lot of run support. For me, if they're going to swing early, [you've got] to keep the ball down."

Harvey had only two of his seven strikeouts through five innings. He also had thrown only 55 pitches.

"In the sixth or seventh inning, I looked up [at the scoreboard] and the pitch count was down," Harvey said. "As far as the later innings, I didn't even look up. I felt good."

Much has been made of being conservative with Harvey early on this season. Collins has insisted he'd keep him on his regular starts, but wants to be cautious not to over-use him during individual games. He threw 91 pitches at Washington. He threw 95 against the Phillies. He threw 84 against the Marlins.

"When [Collins] asked me how I was doing after the eighth, it kind of made it clear my pitch count was too, too high," Harvey said. "I glanced at the bullpen and didn't see too much activity. I wanted to go back out there."

After the Teixeira home run to start the seventh, Harvey had set down six in a row.

"He walked into the dugout after the eighth and said, 'I want it!'" Collins said.

So Collins let him have the ninth.

Harvey vs. Alex Rodriguez, make no mistake, everybody wanted to see that. The New York Daily News had a cover cartoon of Harvey as the Dark Knight and A-Rod as the Joker. Nearing 40 years of age, A-Rod is off to a strong, surprising start. He also isn't capable of handling a righthander hitting high-90s on the radar gun.

Rodriguez struck out twice in going 0-for-4. He did hit a hard shot back to Harvey on what the pitcher called a poor slider. In the ninth inning, he blew A-Rod away with a 98 mph fastball. And it was the Mets fans chanting, "Let's Go Harvey!" Oh, man, that would have rankled George Steinbrenner.

"I could have told you word for word what Matt was going to say," Collins said. "I told him as much as I want to, I can't."

Make no mistake. Harvey already had made a statement. He's a big-city bear, and he's going to keep growling.

"This is the stage he dies to pitch in," Collins said.

Collins said even in spring training he expected to face the tough call to leave Harvey in or take him out late in games. Yes, it was a big stage, big intra-city matchup, big national television on Fox Sports 1, but Collins insisted that's not the primary reason why he left Harvey in for the ninth.

"With an extra day off before his next start against the Nationals, I said, you know what? He can go an extra inning, another three-four pitches," Collins said. "I know he wanted this bad. He deserved it."

The Mets are 14-4. They're winning through injuries. They're gaining more and more confidence. You've got guys like Juan Lagares going 4-for-4 with three RBI. You've got guys like catcher Kevin Plawecki going 2-for-4 with his first career home run. And how about Lucas Duda, who homered? He's hitting everything these days.

You want your warm and fuzzy Connecticut story? How about Eric Campbell, a Norwich Free Academy guy, hitting his first home run of the season and reaching base in all 10 games he has played this season. NFA? Harvey from Fitch-Groton? The ECC was in the house.

"We've got a good team," Collins said. "And when you've got a guy like Matt Harvey, you can bounce right back after one loss."

The last time Harvey was at Yankee Stadium, it was late last September. He was sitting in the stands for Derek Jeter's final home game. He was wearing a Knicks hat. When he first arrived in New York, Harvey sounded like a baseball fanatic. Then he became the man about town. Now, he is more cautious in his words, but equally ferocious in baseball delivery.

"We needed a win and to do it in this ballpark ..."

Harvey almost bit. But no he didn't.

"It was really important to get back in this series. It was a good win. I just wish I got that last out. But Terry made the right call."